Transformers: The Ride Coming to Universal Studios Florida

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They'll be more than meets the eye in Orlando.

By Eric Goldman

Beware, Orlando – the Decepticons are coming! But the good news is, so are the Autobots.

At the Universal Studios Florida park on Thursday (itself a part of the larger Universal Orlando Resort), the beginning of the normal evening show on the park’s lagoon was interrupted by a transmission from none other than Optimus Prime himself – confirming the rumors that yes, Transformers: The Ride 3D was coming to Orlando summer 2013. Suffice to say, the fans in attendance went wild, loudly cheering the reveal.

Transformers: The Ride has previously opened at Universal’s Singapore and Hollywood parks and at a press conference following the announcement at the Orlando location, Mark Woodbury, President of Universal Creative said, “It has already become a global phenomenon. People are just wild about the ride – the reaction has been over the top. So it was rush, rush and let’s get it to Orlando in a hurry and that’s what you’re seeing happen out there today. “

Terry Coup, whose formidable title is Senior Vice President of the Creative Studio at Universal Creative, described Transformers: The Ride as “ The new standard - one of the best 3D dark rides in the world.”

There are of course three live-action Transformers films, with a fourth on the way. Woodbury said that when it came to adapting those films into a single ride, “You’re taking the most exciting and thrilling parts of the entire body of work and bringing it to bear in a really thrilling, visceral experience.”

The ride takes guests on a journey where they interact with giant, life-size versions of the Transformers, seen via projected film footage. Woodbury remarked, “It’s the first time you’re able to really experience the full scale of these characters, which was really important for us. In 3D, it’s really amazing.”

Coup recalled Michael Bay and members of Hasbro coming to see early footage. “When they first saw one of the screenings we had of Optimus Prime, in 3D, standing in front of us, giving a different perspective, a whole new perspective, they thought ‘Wow, this is what the fans have been waiting for.’ They’re able to spend longer than two seconds with them on screen. They’re able to feel the robots grabbing the car, pulling you in, yanking you into the action, catapulting you in front of all of the Autobots.” Coup said that when it comes to the fans and Bay alike, “The ride does what everybody wanted. It puts you in the action. You’re one of the Autobots.”

The ride itself will be the same as the one in Singapore and Hollywood -- in which you and your Autobot vehicle, Evac, attempt to stop the Decepticons from stealing the AllSpark -- with Woodbury laughing, “It ain’t broken, so let’s not fix it!” However, the line experience will be a bit different, as will the architecture of the building, as Woodbury noted that the Orlando location will exist inside a building visible from 360 degrees by guests, unlike in Los Angeles, where guests only see the front.

I asked Woodbury how they decided on the location of the Transformers ride in Orlando, which is near the front of the park, right at the top of the central lagoon. Woodbury told me, “You put a lot of thought into those things. This is a big, iconographic attraction, so we wanted to give it a big, iconographic position, so that’s why you see it right, smack in the middle of the park, facing out onto the lagoon – so it really has a prominent spot. And then we have Optimus guarding the entrance of the attraction, so that’ll be a really stunning image when you see it. “

Transformers: The Ride is being built extremely quickly in Orlando. Asked why that is, Woodbury admitted, “It is really fast. This is the fastest we’ve ever built a project as complex as this. This is a really, really complicated piece of work. From building the building, to the ride technology, to the film technology, it’s very, very complicated to put together. And our motivation is it’s wildly popular! So we wanted to bring it to market as fast as we possibly could. It’s great for our business, great for our guests. And that’s what motivates us.” The Transformers ride opened earlier this year, in May, in Los Angeles, and Woodbury noted, “I would say days after opening in Hollywood, we saw the response and we said, ‘Let’s go to Orlando!’”

As far as the involvement of the director of the Transformers movies, Coup said, “We had some really great concept sessions with Michael Bay to come up with the action. He wanted so much more action. Throughout production of the film [for the ride], Michael was working on Transformers 3 and a lot of the same crew that was working on that film was working on our media as well, so there was great interaction throughout and we were able to leverage on some of the environments – when he was shooting in Chicago, we were able to shoot in Chicago as well. There were a lot of really good tie-ins.”

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee meet their fans at the Transformers: The Ride 3D announcement in Orlando.

Besides Bay, Transformers: The Ride also includes the involvement of Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, once again voicing Optimus Prime and Megatron. Woodbury remarked, “Having that kind of talent on our theme park attractions not only raises the bar on quality but delivers a really authentic piece of work. This thing is a thrill. The image quality is spectacular, the acting is great… The characters, the resolution, the technology… It’s just really a stunning piece of work.”

Woodbury also revealed that one of the most exciting parts of the ride -- when a Decepticon pulls you behind him in the sky, and sends you crashing into and through an office building -- came from none other than Steven Spielberg, who produces the Transformers films. Explained Woodbury, “Steven has been our creative consultant on our movie parks since 1988, since we built this park we’re in now. So we spend a lot of time with Steven talking about ideas. So as we were talking about Transformers and going through the story treatment, we were talking about flying down the street and he said, ‘Oh, you just have to make that move through the building.’ It’s that kind of attention to detail, attention to certain story moments that these guys are just so great at.”

Speaking to the appeal of the ride to Transformers fans, Coup said, “It’s great for the first time to be able to place someone inside an Autobot and ride along - it’s just tremendous.” He added, “It’s so enjoyable, you can’t ride it just once. You want to go on it multiple times. That’s what happened with Michael Bay. He was just like, ‘I have to go again! And again and again…’”

Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on on Twitter at @EricIGN and IGN at ericgoldman-ign.